oo2. text + audio attachment.

[xerampelinae]

sometimes a prayer is only a voice in all the noise
maybe this one was meant for you

[ A file is attached; ]

! TRANSMISSION ERROR.
! TRANSMISSION RETRIEVED.
! CONTENTS FOLLOW.

[ MUFFLED, STATIC SCRATCHING. IT CONTINUES, FADING ENOUGH THAT OTHER SOUNDS BEGIN TO COME THROUGH: LOUD AND SHAKY, WET GASPS OF BREATH, AND THEN A MORE DISTANT, LOWER RHYTHM. THERE'S A BURST OF DULL CLICKING NOISES, AND THE SOUND BECOMES DISCERNABLE AS A MALE VOICE. ]

—red of clearing up your m—s. If you'd ke— on top of th— we wouldn't be in this —uation. They'd be —already.

[ A LOUD BURST OF DISTORTED NOICE, ELECTRONIC SHRIEKING AND DISCORDANT TONES THAT ENDS AS ABRUPTLY AS IT STARTED. ]

No, see, ca— in point. This shouldn't be dam— control. She should— happened at all. You were [ . . . ] —ing with your toys, distr—ted, and you coul— manage to fix— when it started. Now we— an accelerating —sue and I've had to get involved.

[ FUMBLED SOUNDS, FABRIC SCRATCHING STATIC AGAINST THE MIC AGAIN. FOOTSTEPS THAT GROW LOUDER BUT THEN TURN, GROW QUIETER, AND STOP. ]

You're done. Han— her, clear out your pets and— time for me to take ov— [ A SCREAM OF DISTORTION INTERRUPTING, HEAVY, CRACKLING STATIC. WHEN SOUND RETURNS, HIS VOICE HAS PITCHED INTO CONFUSION AND ALARM. ] What? Y— can't, you don't have th—

[ A LOW THUMP AND THEN ANOTHER SHRILL, PIERCING SOUND, RISING HIGHER AND LOUDER UNTIL IT DISTORTS INTO BEATS OF STATIC. BARELY DISCERNABLE THROUGH IT IS THE SOUND OF SCRABBLING, BOOTS ON METAL, UNINTELLIGIBLE SHOUTS THAT BEGIN TO TURN TO SCREAMS. THERE'S A MUDDLED FUMBLE OF STATIC AND THEN THE DISTORTION BEGINS TO FADE, THE SOUNDS OF HARSH BREATHING AND RUNNING FOOTSTEPS FILTERING THROUGH. A FEMALE VOICE, MURMURING DESPERATELY: ]

Oh God, oh— please, I don't— [ A SCUFFLE AND THEN A LOUD, CRACKLING THUMP. ]

there's a saying from my world that explains the way of the universe
it begins with 'all of this has happened before'

i can't find the source
and the interference you hear is audio corruption
but human suffering has a distinct resonance

is it too late?

Comments

[borndying]

Cheers, thanks, this'll definitely not make anybody panic before we've nailed down the coordinates.

( probably not the ideal representative of comms to respond first. probably the tenor of this response can be put down to a tendency to drink at work. possibly he is about to get a clip round the ear at work. )

[xerampelinae]

you're welcome
who is we

[borndying]

Cool.

'We' are Communications. You may know us as Captain Jawline's back up dancers.

[cliver]

No, but it's entirely too early — and a tad callous, honestly — to speculate when people are in trouble.

[ take any negativity and airlock it xoxo. ]

[xerampelinae]

would 'too late' help them any more?

and besides
this isn't early.

[ryuuzaki]

[The voice is smooth and low and calm, and belongs to a young man in his mid-twenties.]

What's the rest of the saying?

[The click of keys is audible in the background; he's another one of those. Some areas of the ship are easier to triangulate in than others; Charlotte's post was a brief blip, a needle in a haystack, but they're digging it out. And Charlotte herself seems to need assistance.]

[xerampelinae]

[ She sticks to text. She always sticks to text. ]

and will happen again

text | widowlock.

[debts]

you could have bought this to security's attention first.

[ Kind of sounds like she's implying "only". ]

text | widowlock.

[xerampelinae]

[ Kind of does. ]

could have
it was intended for everyone

private.

[darkart]

Isn't it meant for you, too?

private.

[xerampelinae]

i suppose
yes
it's meant for anyone that can hear it

[text]

[the_other_eight]

Did you alert security and communications before posting this?

[text]

[xerampelinae]

no

[mindtricks]

[ human suffering has a distinct resonance indeed. ]

how did you retrieve this?

[ what she's really asking is whether this is a trap by the ship or whoever is controlling it, but that's not the kind of question she actually expects an answer to. ]

[xerampelinae]

i'm good with computers
but i can share with you some of the recovery protocols i used if you're curious for detail

( text )

[pushfall]

I seriously hope that hasn't happened before. And I seriously hope that it's not too late.

( text )

[xerampelinae]

if you hope seriously enough, it might not be

text;

[dogbane]

you're a woman of numerous and inscrutable talents, love. don't let comms steal you away from us or sec grind you down, eh

text;

[xerampelinae]

thank you, little fish
they won't

text;

[seidhr]

Toys... pets...
Who, I wonder, was the naughty child at play?

text; audio attachment.

[xerampelinae]

[ Attached is a sliver of the same file. One of the many pieces of audio corruption, an extended electronic shriek that gutters out into spitting static. ]

he didn't sound impressed about getting them taken away

[lostkings]

When'd you get the file?

[xerampelinae]

recently

[askedtobe]

It's not too late if we find out what's happening.

[xerampelinae]

if
the jump will take care of that if we move this slowly